Unit Overview: Learning Objectives
After students have viewed the video, read the headnotes and literary selections in The Norton Anthology of American Literature, and explored related archival materials on the American Passages Web site, they should be able to

understand the basic tenets of realism;

discuss the impact on American literature and culture of regionalist writers' emphasis on geographical settings and distinctive customs;

discuss the impact of race and gender on representations of regional cultures;

discuss the cultural values and assumptions that inform phonetic representations of racial and regional dialects in late-nineteenth-century American literature.

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